Release Notes Process
by John J. McDonough
We have several new contributors, and we are right at the point of
getting serious with release notes, so I thought I would outline the
process specifically for a few new folks, but also to the list just in
case someone needs some blanks filled in.
Some of this will be old news to those of you who joined in the bug
stomping day, but not all of it! And yes, it is way too long. I have a
tendency to run off at the mouth (fingers).
The release notes are probably the largest project Docs routinely takes
on. Some of the guides are quite a bit larger and more complex, but the
guides only get updated every release; release notes are a start from
scratch exercise every time.
We begin the release notes process by clearing out the "beats" and
emailing the beat writers asking them to look at their beats. The sad
part is they rarely respond.
The beats are a set of wiki pages, indexed at:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_Beats
Notice that some of the beats are crossed off. These are beats that
haven't had any content for the past couple of releases, and don't look
like they have any this release, but might. These beats aren't cast in
stone. They simply represent areas of capability that have been
interesting in the past. If there happens to be a sudden burst of
activity around, say, basket weaving software this release, then we will
add a basket weaving beat. At the current time, however, I have not
discovered any basket weaving software in Fedora, so as a result, no
basket weaving beat.
What we do is capture information for the release notes in those beats.
These are easy to edit and it allows us to get more people involved in
collecting this information. Sometimes developers, SIG members, all
kinds of people contribute. We can easily add beats, rearrange things,
and generally get an overview of what the release notes will look like.
If there is an area that interests you, and nobody has picked up on the
beat, then feel free to dive in. Do a little research on what is new
for Fedora 13, contact the developer, look at the upstream pages, and
write some prose in the beat that you think needs to be in the release
notes.
It is important to note that the release notes document "significant"
changes. There are over 13,000 packages in Fedora, and every release,
several thousand of those change. Unfortunately, what is "significant"
to one person is arcane to another, so we need to apply a little
judgement or guesswork to figure out what it significant.
I will make a (large) table towards the end of the process that
identifies every change and has a link to the upstream web page where
(hopefully) the changes are documented, so the potential user at least
has a chance to see if his favorite fix/upgrade is in there. But the
release notes will be translated into a lot of languages, so we want to
keep the actual prose down to some sensible size. The large tables are
arranged so they need no translation.
At the beginning of each release, developers propose major upgrades
which are vetted and ultimately many are included in the next release.
In this process, the developers write "feature pages" describing the
feature, what it's impact is, discuss the risks, etc. They also include
some proposed release notes language. For each feature, I have put a
link to the feature page on the beat's wiki page, so for someone just
getting started, an easy thing to do would be to go to one of those
feature pages, review the page, and write some release notes on the beat
wiki page. Often these features change over time, so you want to read
and understand the feature page (which is updated from time to time) and
not just copy the release notes prose from that page as that prose often
doesn't reflect the changes, and it is often from a developer's point of
view, and may need some work to reflect a user's point of view.
We need to get the wiki populated pretty quickly, so don't be shy about
rolling up your sleeves and diving in.
Next week we will begin translating the wiki to DocBook for the actual
release notes document. This is mostly a manual process but actually
tends to go quite quickly. On the 24th, we will produce the RPM for F13
beta. Release notes are installed by default on Fedora, as well as
being available in a number of formats on
http://docs.fedoraproject.org
The DocBook source is kept in git, and if you want to push changes
yourself, you need to be a member of the FAS group, gitrelease-notes.
However, it is a simple matter to ask git to generate a patch and then
mail that patch to the list if you are a little uncomfortable about
making direct changes initially.
In any case, to work on the DocBook you will want to have git and
Publican installed.
Currently, the tip of the git repository contains the Fedora 12 release
notes. We are waiting for an upgrade to the translation software before
making the Fedora 13 branch.
The Fedora 12 release notes are still built using Publican 0.44 which is
quite different from Publican 1.0, so until we make the F13 branch, you
can't make a test build to see how it works. you can clone the
repository, however (about 60 megs) to poke around in the source and
play with git.
The way git works is you make a local repository. You can the edit
files, build the document, commit changes to your local repository, and
generally do everything without affecting everyone else. Then at some
point you can push your changes to the main repository. This model
makes it pretty simple to start over if you really mess up. Simply
remove your local repository and clone again. Except for the initial
clone git is really fast. You can do everything except push without
being a member of gitrelease-notes.
Once the release notes are more or less final, we build them in html,
html-single and pdf and post those versions on docs.fedoraproject.org.
We also make an RPM for inclusion on the Fedora CDs and DVDs.
A few documents that might be helpful:
Docs quick start, a little stale but not too bad:
http://docs.fedoraproject.org/documentation-quick-start/
The documentation guide is very stale and only interesting if you happen
to be the person pushing to docs.fp.o, although it does contain some
nice material for emacs users:
http://docs.fedoraproject.org/documentation-guide/en_US/
A git quick reference. Not complete, but still probably more than you
need to know:
https://fedoraproject.org/w/index.php?title=Git_Quickref&printable=yes
An overview of the Docs Project (you probably already saw this one)
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
The primary way to communicate is through the list and through IRC. If
you have ANY questions, don't be afraid to ask. Lots of people are
idling on #fedora-docs on freenode all the time. If you ask there
someone will answer. If you need a more detailed explanation, or if you
need an asynchronous answer, then the list is the place. Chances are,
the list is usually the best place because if you have a question, most
likely someone else does, too. But if you are shy, don't be afraid to
email me directly. And in most cases, IRC is generally the quickest.
And don't forget, each Wednesday at 2300Z (7PM EDT) we have a meeting in
#fedora-meeting.
So please, jump right in. It is surprisingly fun and very satisfying.
--McD
14 years
Self-Introduction
by Jonathan Drouillard
Hello,
I'm Jonathan Drouillard, 24 years old and from Corsicana, TX. I'm about to
transfer to Baylor University for a degree in bioinformatics. I studied
computer science for two years, but found a lack of challenges in most of
the courses. Programming has been my favorite way to procrastinate since I
was 13 years old. I have 'experience' in C, Objective C, C++, Java, Perl,
and minor acquaintance with most programming languages. An extensive
portfolio of applications should follow that sentence; but, for the most
part, I have failed at transitioning from development to a release. I host
10 websites on a Linode running Ubuntu. I run Fedora in a virtual machine on
my windows box.
I believe writing documentation or tutorials will develop the skills
necessary to bring my own ideas into release. I have no prior background
writing documentation except for a technical writing class. I am not a guru
of the *nix world, but I have always been able to find my way around thanks
t man pages, tutorials and wikis.
Armed with a tablet, pencil, and paper it is my turn to give back to the
community. I was sent here from Ycombinator with the promise of an excellent
community. My question is: where do I go from here? I'm already in the IRC
chat. How do I find what needs to be documented, could use tutorials, or
anything else? I'm also open to writing docs and tutorials non-Fedora
projects (ie github) that need help, making sites dedicated to teaching how
to use software or open source programs, or any other ideas you have for
informing users.
pub 1024D/6391C79F 2010-03-10
Key fingerprint = B9EF 0283 6C64 8937 D70B 7562 86D8 DE6A 6391 C79F
uid Jonathan Drouillard (ambiate) <
jonathan.drouillard(a)gmail.com>
sub 2048g/D18A1383 2010-03-10
14 years
Porting work party, around 2010-04-12 -- 2010-04-18
by Paul W. Frields
In tonight's meeting, we tossed around the idea of another weekend
work party. The bug stomping party was so useful and fun, we just
can't stop the par-tay! ;-)
One of the ideas we tossed around was building a work party around one
of the release tasks. During the period from 2010-04-12 to
2010-04-18/19, we're supposed to take any small changes (diffs) that
have happened on the wiki in the past few weeks, and make sure all
those changes make it into the final release notes content.
This can help teach new folks a few new tricks:
* Familiarity with DocBook and Publican (and all the small skills that
lead up to that point)
* Familiarity with the how's and why's of porting content, and why we
don't go backward from DocBook to wiki
Also, you'll become part of the process that produces the most awesome
release notes in Linux-land (IMHO at least). :-)
I proposed that we try this:
* A new user setup session, on Wednesday 2010-04-14 after the normal
Docs meeting, to make sure any new folks showing up are ready to
rumble when we start the party
* The actual work party on Saturday 2010-04-17, at an appropriate time
TBD.
--
Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/
gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
Where open source multiplies: http://opensource.com
14 years
Meeting time change NEXT WEEK!
by Paul W. Frields
Just wanted to call out something we've agreed to etch into... well,
sand at least for now. The Docs meeting time will move with daylight
savings time as it's practiced in most of the US, which also aligns
with a number of other places in the world.
Next week Docs team meetings will move to 2300 UTC, which is still
7:00pm US-Eastern, 4:00pm US-Pacific. At least one person from our
Australian contingent verified that 2300 UTC would not cause problems
there at least from now until November.
I'll write this up on the wiki.
--
Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/
gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
Where open source multiplies: http://opensource.com
14 years
Docs Meeting 2010-03-10 IRC log
by Paul W. Frields
00:01:09 <stickster> #startmeeting
00:01:09 <zodbot> Meeting started Thu Mar 11 00:01:09 2010 UTC. The chair is stickster. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot.
00:01:10 <zodbot> Useful Commands: #action #agreed #halp #info #idea #link #topic.
00:01:12 <stickster> #meetingname Docs
00:01:12 <zodbot> The meeting name has been set to 'docs'
00:01:43 <stickster> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs_Project_meetings#Thursday_March_11.2C...
00:01:58 <stickster> #info Agenda is at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs_Project_meetings
00:02:03 <stickster> #topic Roll call
00:02:05 * stickster
00:02:07 * jjmcd .
00:02:16 <joebebus> how do you do that?
00:02:27 <jjmcd> /me
00:02:34 <joebebus> /me
00:02:38 <joebebus> oops
00:02:40 <stickster> do "/me" followed by two spaces.
00:02:42 <joebebus> it gives me a error
00:02:43 <joebebus> ok
00:02:46 * joebebus
00:02:53 <stickster> :-)
00:04:05 <joebebus> Hey rudi!
00:04:17 <stickster> train departs at :05 :-)
00:04:47 <rudi> Hey all -- again, I'm only kinda here this morning
00:04:51 <stickster> No problem rudi
00:05:01 <stickster> rudi: Want me to ping you when we get to guide stuff?
00:05:15 <rudi> Stickster -- much appreciated :)
00:05:18 <stickster> cool
00:05:22 <stickster> #topic DST change (5 min)
00:05:51 <stickster> OK, in a bunch of places DST starts this coming Saturday night/Sunday morning.
00:05:52 * quaid is here
00:06:00 <stickster> The question is, what do we do about our meeting time?
00:06:06 <jjmcd> stickster, our original decision was to stay at 0001Z, but if others want to change that is fine with me
00:06:30 <stickster> #idea stickster offers, let's stay on human time.
00:06:43 <quaid> wazzat?
00:06:47 <stickster> I would note that if we change meeting times to stay on UTC, I will not be able to lead them, period full stop.
00:07:03 <stickster> If we stay on the same human clock time, I can.
00:07:12 * jjmcd has a clock on the wall in zulu, and another on local, so doesn't matter which
00:07:14 <stickster> If someone else can lead the meeting, I am happy to defer to that person.
00:07:40 <stickster> sparks asked that for the next little while he get some coverage for these meetings, and I'm happy to do that as long as I can make it :-)
00:08:22 <stickster> Does anyone feel strongly we should stay on UTC?
00:08:28 * stickster notes, 2 min left on this topic
00:08:52 <joebebus> Honestly UTC confuses me
00:08:56 <joebebus> but I am ok with it
00:09:10 <stickster> Let me pose the question again:
00:09:16 <stickster> Does anyone feel strongly we should stay on UTC?
00:09:28 * jjmcd is content either way
00:09:38 <stickster> quaid: ?
00:09:52 * joebebus is content either way
00:10:13 <quaid> I was not understanding human time, but that is clear
00:10:22 <quaid> I'm smooth either way, let's keep it humane
00:10:36 <jjmcd> do we have conflicts with other groups if we change?
00:10:41 <stickster> quaid: So in other words we will be changing the meeting time to 2300 UTC, which remains at 7:00pm US-Eastern and so forth.
00:10:46 <jjmcd> THe calendar for this channel is in UTC
00:10:48 <stickster> If we clash with another meeting, we'll move to #fedora-docs.
00:11:03 <stickster> zodbot has made the problem of "having to camp in #fedora-meeting to catch things" null
00:11:12 <quaid> what about when ppl's human time changes at different times?
00:11:19 <stickster> quaid: It happens.
00:11:23 <quaid> every time it does
00:11:29 <quaid> what I mean is ...
00:11:30 <stickster> If those people have a problem, I suppose they'd be at this meeting, though
00:11:31 <quaid> whose clock wins?
00:11:33 <stickster> Or...
00:11:33 <quaid> first one to change?
00:11:38 <stickster> They'd send something to the list?
00:11:43 <jjmcd> is there anyone on the planet who knows who changes when?
00:11:49 <stickster> jjmcd: Right.
00:12:26 <stickster> Let's agree to change for now, and if it causes a problem we can't fix, we'll worry about that when the time comes.
00:12:27 <quaid> #idea Set the adjustment of human clock against one specific country or union ...
00:12:41 <stickster> quaid: I'm fine with that.
00:12:48 <jjmcd> Zambia maybe?
00:13:13 <jjmcd> When do the aussies change?
00:13:42 <stickster> They'll be off for a few weeks.
00:14:11 <stickster> rudi: Would a meeting at 2300 UTC for the next few weeks be awful for you guys?
00:14:50 <stickster> rudi: Or rather, I should say, at 2300 UTC from now until ~November
00:15:01 <rudi> yeah -- no problem
00:15:04 <stickster> Great.
00:15:07 <rudi> We're all in here by then
00:15:10 <stickster> OK
00:15:16 <quaid> OK, I suggest we use the US timechange *gasp*
00:15:27 * quaid . o O { whodda thunk it? }
00:15:28 <stickster> #idea Docs to use en-US DST timezones.
00:15:31 <stickster> +1
00:15:37 <quaid> +1!
00:15:39 <joebebus> +1
00:15:53 <jjmcd> +1
00:16:00 <stickster> #agreed Docs will use en-US DST timezones from here on out.
00:16:10 <stickster> #action stickster to update wiki appropriately to reflect new times
00:16:22 <stickster> #topic Follow up on last week's action items
00:16:36 <stickster> #info threethirty drafted as requested, AWESOME!
00:16:57 <stickster> jjmcd: How about yours? (# jjmcd to contact joebebus, review the wiki page, and notify Docs/Marketing to review/finalize )
00:17:18 <stickster> That's Alpha release notes, right?
00:17:23 <jjmcd> yep, joebebus drafted, Mel reviewed (or said she was, have to admit I didn't check up on her)
00:17:29 * stickster notes that he needs to do a better job with context in meetbot items :-)
00:17:40 <stickster> jjmcd: Great.
00:17:53 <stickster> #info jjmcd followed up on Alpha release notes as requested, AWESOME!
00:18:09 <stickster> #info jjmcd posted reminders to lists for release notes beats updates, AWESOME!
00:18:24 <stickster> #info stickster started the bug stomping meeting conversation as requested, AWESOME!
00:18:45 <stickster> I think rudi set up a few EasyFix bugs for us, didn't he?
00:18:54 <quaid> #fact last weekend bug stomping was awesome, great to see new faces (nicks) getting rolled in
00:19:02 * quaid made up #fact, don't bother using it :)
00:19:06 <stickster> hehe
00:19:17 <rudi> I was going to, but John (?) jumped in ahead of me :)
00:19:25 <rudi> For which I am most grateful :)
00:19:27 <stickster> :-)
00:19:41 <stickster> #info rudi wanted to set up EasyFix bugs, but jjmcd did some ahead of time, AWESOME!
00:19:55 <stickster> #topic Alpha announcement and release notes
00:20:16 <stickster> #info Both the Alpha announcement and Alpha release notes were available with the F13 Alpha release as expected.
00:20:23 <stickster> Do we need to do any follow up on these?
00:20:36 <jjmcd> Did you get to peek at that installer issue?\
00:20:37 <stickster> Are there any pending tasks for either of these docs on the wiki?
00:20:50 <stickster> jjmcd: I think ke4qqq was looking into that, I haven't had any cycles
00:21:01 <joebebus> What installer issue?
00:21:05 <jjmcd> Ahhh, that's right, I've been short of them, too
00:21:10 <stickster> #link https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/F13_Alpha_release_announcement
00:21:20 <stickster> #link http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_13_Alpha_release_notes
00:21:28 <jjmcd> joebebus - there is a section on the installer that is just a couple of notes
00:21:35 <joebebus> ok
00:21:53 <stickster> jjmcd: Ah, I see, there's a FIXME still located there.
00:21:59 <jjmcd> yes
00:22:17 <jjmcd> It needs some research, I wasn't able to quickly find any supporting data
00:22:30 <stickster> I'm going to do the evil of assigning an absentee a task
00:22:31 <stickster> :-)
00:22:48 <stickster> #action ke4qqq to report back what he finds out about the installer defaults for /boot partition size and /home partition separation
00:23:03 <stickster> Who will update the page when we find that out?
00:23:15 <stickster> jjmcd: ^^ You OK with that one?
00:23:21 <jjmcd> I assumed David wouldn't be shy
00:23:35 <jjmcd> but if he is, I would be happy to craft some weasel words
00:23:56 <stickster> #action jjmcd will make sure F13A relnotes page is appropriately updated
00:23:58 <stickster> Thanks jjmcd
00:24:18 <stickster> Anything else on this?
00:24:46 <stickster> Moving on then
00:24:49 <stickster> #topic Desktop Help Summit
00:24:50 <stickster> #link http://live.gnome.org/DesktopHelpSummit2010
00:25:09 <jjmcd> shaunm thinks they can get the firewall solved for talk
00:25:22 <jjmcd> They have set up a temporary mailing list to work these issues
00:25:23 <jjmcd> http://syllogist.net/mailman/listinfo/dhs2010_syllogist.net
00:25:23 <stickster> #info shaunm advises there is a list for remotees to join:
00:25:25 <stickster> #link
00:25:29 <stickster> #undo
00:25:31 <zodbot> Removing item from minutes: <MeetBot.items.Link object at 0x28578c10>
00:25:40 <stickster> #link http://syllogist.net/mailman/listinfo/dhs2010_syllogist.net
00:26:12 <stickster> #info All remote participants should join aforementioned list
00:26:24 <stickster> jjmcd: I don't think there's anything else for us to do at this point, right?
00:26:32 <jjmcd> not that I can think of
00:26:51 * stickster will remove from agenda unless there's something actionable for the whole team -- any other coordination can be done on the list
00:27:09 <stickster> OK.l
00:27:16 <stickster> wow, need to fire that typist again.
00:27:26 <stickster> Moving on!
00:27:26 <quaid> that's three this month!
00:27:34 <stickster> I pile 'em outside like cordwood
00:27:44 <jjmcd> hard to get good help these days
00:27:49 <stickster> Fortunately they're as imaginary as my lottery winnings
00:27:55 <stickster> #topic Release Notes
00:28:01 <stickster> jjmcd: OK, take it away, give us the scoop
00:28:12 <jjmcd> OK
00:28:12 <stickster> What are our next actions, and how can contributors help right now?
00:28:22 <jjmcd> Well, the next thing is to finish populating the wiki
00:28:48 <jjmcd> I was going to see if I could lean on joebebus and eli to go start by going to those pages with links
00:29:00 <jjmcd> review the feature pages and craft some rn words
00:29:18 <joebebus> ok...
00:29:24 <jjmcd> Meanwhile, I was going to do my search of rawhide/f13 to see what we may have missed
00:29:33 <stickster> #link https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:Documentation_beats
00:29:43 <jjmcd> Yes, exactly
00:30:11 <jjmcd> Thats where we are, not so exciting, just facing the real grunt
00:30:35 <jjmcd> Oh, I prolly need to talk with rudi after the meeting
00:30:37 * stickster notes he and spot can help tickle any RH engineers on specific beats if needed
00:30:52 <jjmcd> cool
00:30:54 <stickster> I don't know if we can get people to fully own them, but putting some text in a wiki page shouldn't be too hard.
00:31:06 <jjmcd> Exactly
00:31:16 <jjmcd> if we can get a clue we can easily craft some prose
00:31:29 <jjmcd> but sometimes finding that first clue is the hard part
00:31:35 <stickster> So if I was a new contributor, jjmcd, where would you send me first to do something?
00:31:46 <jjmcd> You posted the link
00:31:53 <stickster> Ah, that was it!
00:31:54 <jjmcd> First I would find out what interested him
00:32:10 <jjmcd> Many of the beats contain links to the feature page
00:32:24 * stickster collects info from jjmcd for meetbot
00:32:38 <jjmcd> So crafting some prose around that is an easy way to get rolling
00:32:53 <stickster> jjmcd: Were all the beats scrubbed a while back?
00:32:59 <jjmcd> yes
00:33:13 <jjmcd> A few have been getting added to a lot
00:33:13 <stickster> In other words, if I come to the page knowing nothing, there will either be a blank page, or some content that we know is relatively current/OK
00:33:20 <jjmcd> Yes
00:33:36 <jjmcd> Although that content may be nothing more than a link to the feature page
00:33:53 <jjmcd> But that at least gives someone a starting point
00:33:57 <stickster> So I'd look at that page, and then... read the links if there, follow to the feature owner, ask questions, write prose, rinse, repeat?
00:34:05 <jjmcd> exactly
00:34:19 <stickster> #info If you're new and looking to help, take a look at the beats link above. Pick a beat that's interesting, use any links thereon to research related features.
00:34:38 <stickster> #info The links go to feature pages with owners. Email the owners, use their advice and assistance to write prose into the page.
00:34:49 <stickster> jjmcd: When does this period end?
00:35:03 <jjmcd> I see a couple of join requests, I'll get intros from them and maybe we'll be positioned to get them going right away
00:35:04 * stickster asks caveman questions to make sure log is useful :-)
00:35:15 <jjmcd> Only about a week, maybe 1.5
00:35:39 <stickster> jjmcd: Is that ending point the wiki freeze for Beta release notes?
00:35:46 <jjmcd> Yes
00:35:52 <stickster> #info http://poelstra.fedorapeople.org/schedules/f-13/f-13-docs-tasks.html says this period ends March 15
00:35:58 <jjmcd> I need to double check dates I think it is the 15th
00:36:02 <jjmcd> yeah
00:36:03 <stickster> So get that stuff in lickety-split!
00:36:17 <stickster> #agreed Newcomers welcome, please help us increase content!
00:36:52 <stickster> #action jjmcd to address pending join requests for Docs, and invite newcomers to participate in Release Notes beat writing/editing
00:36:58 <stickster> OK, anything more on this?
00:37:00 <jjmcd> If you've looked at others release notes, Fedora's are something to be proud of.
00:37:10 <jjmcd> Only RHEL can hold a candle
00:37:15 <stickster> We always have been, right quaid?
00:37:53 <jjmcd> And with the work rudi, sparks and others are doing on guides we are going way past awesome
00:38:00 <stickster> Even with ups and downs, the release notes have done quite well. Sometimes through superhuman efforts, thanks to all those who've crushed them in past releases.
00:38:16 <stickster> #info Fedora release notes rock.
00:38:21 <stickster> actually
00:38:22 <jjmcd> :-)
00:38:22 <stickster> #undo
00:38:22 <zodbot> Removing item from minutes: <MeetBot.items.Info object at 0x2b6f9676fd50>
00:38:27 <stickster> #agreed Fedora release notes rock.
00:38:32 <stickster> OK, moving on
00:38:36 <stickster> #topic New guides.
00:38:59 <stickster> I'm leaving this open for 20 seconds, but I'd like to remove it in favor of using the list for this info, until/unless someone pops up with one.
00:39:15 <stickster> Any objections? (me waits for 20sec)
00:39:49 <stickster> #agreed Remove this from ongoing agenda
00:39:59 <stickster> #action stickster to fix agenda, removing New Guides entry for now, in favor of list.
00:40:07 <stickster> #topic Guide status
00:40:18 <stickster> And that means it's time to ping rudi again!
00:40:30 * rudi pops up
00:40:52 <jjmcd> On updating the schedule, Rudi and Tsagadai hit it, nobody else has yet. I updated RN's the other day
00:41:11 <rudi> Well, I'll be standing by to pick up anything as needed
00:41:24 <rudi> Everyone saw the note about the Tx upgrade?
00:41:34 <stickster> rudi: I haven't -- new news? 0.7.4 is up?
00:41:36 <jjmcd> no, I didn't
00:41:51 <rudi> There's an infra freeze today to finish the work
00:41:57 <stickster> Ooo
00:42:03 <rudi> So 0.7 should be operational within 24 hours
00:42:04 <jjmcd> coolness
00:42:22 <rudi> So with that in place, and the Alpha image out there
00:42:40 <stickster> Wow, cool! I know that ricky is working on that among others
00:42:49 <rudi> we'll be good to start updating content and dropping to translation
00:43:04 <jjmcd> uitstekend!
00:43:10 * stickster notes that Tx 0.7.x+ fixes a lot of problems translators have had with the older version we've been running a while.
00:43:29 <stickster> #info Infrastructure freeze has been going on today to finish work on Transifex 0.7.4 deployment
00:43:38 <rudi> So the good news for jjmcd and me is that we lose a lot of the nonsense we've had to carry :)
00:43:42 <stickster> YAY!
00:43:43 <jjmcd> And don't forget that interminable msgmerge
00:43:46 <jjmcd> yeah
00:43:50 <rudi> Don't start :)
00:43:51 <stickster> Right, because Tx 0.7 gives us real Publican support
00:44:09 <stickster> #info Tx 0.7.4 gives us Publican support, no more manual munging to get Publican-based guides done!
00:44:12 <stickster> I'm thrilled
00:44:19 <rudi> We'll probably need to do one last split once we've generated Publican 1.0 PO files, but that's it
00:44:24 <stickster> *nod
00:44:36 <jjmcd> stickster, you haven't been doing 7 hour builds every night
00:44:38 <rudi> s/probably/definitely :)
00:44:51 <stickster> #info Guide owners will do one last split once Publican 1.0 PO files are generated
00:45:07 <stickster> rudi: That's great.
00:45:20 <jjmcd> And then I can upgrade my publican 0.44 system
00:45:26 <jjmcd> :-)
00:45:28 * stickster notes we are at endtime minus 15 minutes
00:45:50 <stickster> rudi: For new contributors, is there anything they should know to help with guides, other than to raise a hand on the docs list?
00:46:08 <stickster> (or to stop by the hosted project page and follow directions)
00:46:19 <rudi> Nope -- just yell out :)
00:46:37 <rudi> By late next week, I'll have my eye back on the Fedora ball :)
00:47:22 <stickster> rudi: Thanks so much for everything. You are a superstar.
00:47:31 <rudi> Aww shucks
00:47:43 <stickster> Let's move on, then, after that AWESOME bit of meeting gold :-)
00:47:55 <stickster> #topic Outcome of bug stomping session
00:48:13 <stickster> #link https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?query_format=advanced&classificat... <-- still outstanding bugs
00:48:29 <stickster> #info the list is *significantly* smaller than it was before the bug stomping day.
00:48:41 * jjmcd thinks the bug stomping rocked
00:48:43 <stickster> And we had some new contributors participating!
00:48:57 <jjmcd> yes, that was great
00:49:05 <stickster> #idea Before the next one, we should have a "New contributor come-by-and-be-trained" day.
00:49:18 <jjmcd> not a bad plan
00:49:18 <stickster> I think we lost a bit of momentum there, even if it was for a truly great cause.
00:49:47 <stickster> That's really secondary, though, to the warm glow of new people showing up and getting involved.
00:49:53 <jjmcd> perhaps, but learning under fire makes it more exciting
00:50:00 <stickster> We should carry that forward. Can we p
00:50:02 <stickster> oops
00:50:07 <stickster> Can we plan to do another one?
00:50:23 <jjmcd> If we can find breathing space in the schedule
00:50:59 <stickster> Yeah, it is pretty packed.
00:51:02 <stickster> #link http://poelstra.fedorapeople.org/schedules/f-13/f-13-docs-tasks.html
00:51:26 <stickster> #info Schedule is pretty packed until F13 GA. We should shoot for just afterward.
00:51:35 <jjmcd> But, maybe we organize a hackfest sort of thing around some schedule item
00:51:36 <stickster> Oh wait.
00:51:37 <stickster> #undo
00:51:38 <zodbot> Removing item from minutes: <MeetBot.items.Info object at 0x27ad32d0>
00:51:44 <stickster> jjmcd: 'Zactly. How stupid of me.
00:51:58 <jjmcd> gmta
00:52:15 <jjmcd> a dillar a dollar
00:52:16 <stickster> jjmcd: What if we built it around something like "port wiki diff to publican"?
00:52:23 <stickster> That's not quite as hard as the *full* port
00:52:26 <jjmcd> That could be cool
00:52:27 <stickster> And it exposes people to DocBook
00:52:32 <jjmcd> yeah
00:52:38 <stickster> and the reason why wiki -> DocBook is something we only do one way :-)
00:53:15 <quaid> +1
00:53:19 <stickster> jjmcd: How about this --
00:53:28 <jjmcd> Last time we tried to backport fixes to the wiki and that didn't work real well
00:54:14 <stickster> On Wed 2010-04-14, after this meeting, we have a newbie training session in #fedora-docs
00:54:27 <stickster> On Sat 2010-04-17, we have a porting party
00:54:33 <stickster> What do you think?
00:54:57 <jjmcd> let me look at my calendar, that day sounds suspicious
00:55:08 <stickster> OK, we'll figure out dates on the list
00:55:13 <stickster> We don't need to have the answer here
00:55:44 <stickster> #action stickster to start conversation on list about a working party around porting diffs from wiki to DocBook during 2010-04-12 -- 2010-04-19
00:55:47 <jjmcd> Oh, OK, not so bad
00:56:05 <stickster> Last 5 min
00:56:06 <jjmcd> I'll be in Lansing that day, but I should be back early so no prob
00:56:14 <stickster> #topic All Other Business (AOB)
00:56:18 <stickster> Anything else we should cover?
00:56:50 * jjmcd had something but lost it
00:56:56 <stickster> :-)
00:57:28 <stickster> OK, I think that's a wrap then! In 15...
00:57:36 <stickster> 10...
00:57:42 <stickster> 5...
00:57:51 <stickster> #endmeeting
--
Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/
gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
Where open source multiplies: http://opensource.com
14 years
Docs Meeting 2010-03-10 Summary
by Paul W. Frields
=======================
#fedora-meeting Meeting
=======================
Meeting started by stickster at 00:01:09 UTC. The full logs are
available at
http://meetbot.fedoraproject.org/fedora-meeting/2010-03-11/docs.2010-03-1...
.
Meeting summary
---------------
* LINK:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs_Project_meetings#Thursday_March_11.2C...
(stickster, 00:01:43)
* Agenda is at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs_Project_meetings
(stickster, 00:01:58)
* Roll call (stickster, 00:02:03)
* DST change (5 min) (stickster, 00:05:22)
* IDEA: stickster offers, let's stay on human time. (stickster,
00:06:30)
* IDEA: Set the adjustment of human clock against one specific country
or union ... (quaid, 00:12:27)
* IDEA: Docs to use en-US DST timezones. (stickster, 00:15:28)
* AGREED: Docs will use en-US DST timezones from here on out.
(stickster, 00:16:00)
* ACTION: stickster to update wiki appropriately to reflect new times
(stickster, 00:16:10)
* Follow up on last week's action items (stickster, 00:16:22)
* threethirty drafted as requested, AWESOME! (stickster, 00:16:36)
* jjmcd followed up on Alpha release notes as requested, AWESOME!
(stickster, 00:17:53)
* jjmcd posted reminders to lists for release notes beats updates,
AWESOME! (stickster, 00:18:09)
* stickster started the bug stomping meeting conversation as
requested, AWESOME! (stickster, 00:18:24)
* rudi wanted to set up EasyFix bugs, but jjmcd did some ahead of
time, AWESOME! (stickster, 00:19:41)
* Alpha announcement and release notes (stickster, 00:19:55)
* Both the Alpha announcement and Alpha release notes were available
with the F13 Alpha release as expected. (stickster, 00:20:16)
* LINK: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/F13_Alpha_release_announcement
(stickster, 00:21:10)
* LINK: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_13_Alpha_release_notes
(stickster, 00:21:20)
* ACTION: ke4qqq to report back what he finds out about the installer
defaults for /boot partition size and /home partition separation
(stickster, 00:22:48)
* ACTION: jjmcd will make sure F13A relnotes page is appropriately
updated (stickster, 00:23:56)
* Desktop Help Summit (stickster, 00:24:49)
* LINK: http://live.gnome.org/DesktopHelpSummit2010 (stickster,
00:24:50)
* LINK: http://syllogist.net/mailman/listinfo/dhs2010_syllogist.net
(jjmcd, 00:25:23)
* shaunm advises there is a list for remotees to join: (stickster,
00:25:23)
* LINK: http://syllogist.net/mailman/listinfo/dhs2010_syllogist.net
(stickster, 00:25:40)
* All remote participants should join aforementioned list (stickster,
00:26:12)
* Release Notes (stickster, 00:27:55)
* LINK: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:Documentation_beats
(stickster, 00:29:33)
* If you're new and looking to help, take a look at the beats link
above. Pick a beat that's interesting, use any links thereon to
research related features. (stickster, 00:34:19)
* The links go to feature pages with owners. Email the owners, use
their advice and assistance to write prose into the page.
(stickster, 00:34:38)
* http://poelstra.fedorapeople.org/schedules/f-13/f-13-docs-tasks.html
says this period ends March 15 (stickster, 00:35:52)
* AGREED: Newcomers welcome, please help us increase content!
(stickster, 00:36:17)
* ACTION: jjmcd to address pending join requests for Docs, and invite
newcomers to participate in Release Notes beat writing/editing
(stickster, 00:36:52)
* AGREED: Fedora release notes rock. (stickster, 00:38:27)
* New guides. (stickster, 00:38:36)
* AGREED: Remove this from ongoing agenda (stickster, 00:39:49)
* ACTION: stickster to fix agenda, removing New Guides entry for now,
in favor of list. (stickster, 00:39:59)
* Guide status (stickster, 00:40:07)
* Infrastructure freeze has been going on today to finish work on
Transifex 0.7.4 deployment (stickster, 00:43:29)
* Tx 0.7.4 gives us Publican support, no more manual munging to get
Publican-based guides done! (stickster, 00:44:09)
* Guide owners will do one last split once Publican 1.0 PO files are
generated (stickster, 00:44:51)
* Outcome of bug stomping session (stickster, 00:47:55)
* LINK:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?query_format=advanced&classificat...
<-- still outstanding bugs (stickster, 00:48:13)
* the list is *significantly* smaller than it was before the bug
stomping day. (stickster, 00:48:29)
* IDEA: Before the next one, we should have a "New contributor
come-by-and-be-trained" day. (stickster, 00:49:05)
* LINK:
http://poelstra.fedorapeople.org/schedules/f-13/f-13-docs-tasks.html
(stickster, 00:51:02)
* ACTION: stickster to start conversation on list about a working
party around porting diffs from wiki to DocBook during 2010-04-12 --
2010-04-19 (stickster, 00:55:44)
* All Other Business (AOB) (stickster, 00:56:14)
Meeting ended at 00:57:51 UTC.
Action Items
------------
* stickster to update wiki appropriately to reflect new times
* ke4qqq to report back what he finds out about the installer defaults
for /boot partition size and /home partition separation
* jjmcd will make sure F13A relnotes page is appropriately updated
* jjmcd to address pending join requests for Docs, and invite newcomers
to participate in Release Notes beat writing/editing
* stickster to fix agenda, removing New Guides entry for now, in favor
of list.
* stickster to start conversation on list about a working party around
porting diffs from wiki to DocBook during 2010-04-12 -- 2010-04-19
Action Items, by person
-----------------------
* jjmcd
* jjmcd will make sure F13A relnotes page is appropriately updated
* jjmcd to address pending join requests for Docs, and invite
newcomers to participate in Release Notes beat writing/editing
* stickster
* stickster to update wiki appropriately to reflect new times
* stickster to fix agenda, removing New Guides entry for now, in favor
of list.
* stickster to start conversation on list about a working party around
porting diffs from wiki to DocBook during 2010-04-12 -- 2010-04-19
* **UNASSIGNED**
* ke4qqq to report back what he finds out about the installer defaults
for /boot partition size and /home partition separation
People Present (lines said)
---------------------------
* stickster (176)
* jjmcd (79)
* rudi (20)
* quaid (17)
* joebebus (14)
* zodbot (6)
Generated by `MeetBot`_ 0.1.4
.. _`MeetBot`: http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot
--
Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/
gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
Where open source multiplies: http://opensource.com
14 years
Re: Release Notes Wiki Freeze
by Paul W. Frields
On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 08:39:49AM -0500, John J. McDonough wrote:
> Next week is the wiki freeze for Fedora 13 Release Notes.
>
> If you have something important that needs to be in the release notes,
> update the appropriate wiki beat.
>
> Go to
> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Documentation_Beats
>
> and select the appropriate beat. Then add a note to that beat.
>
> Your update need not be polished prose; if you can summarize the key
> points that need to be documented and perhaps include a link to more
> details, the Docs Project can take it from there.
>
> As in Fedora 12, we are not looking to document every little change.
> The release notes will highlight significant changes, and include a link
> to the upstream page for all changes. If your component is hosted by
> Fedora, please consider enhancing the information pointed to by the yum
> link, which is what will appear in the release notes.
>
> Thanks for your help
> --McD
I bounced this message to devel-announce@ which is a much lower
traffic list. Many developers do not have time to read everything on
the devel@ list (even when we're not in the middle of big "threads of
doom"), so any important announcements should go there too.
--
Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/
gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
Where open source multiplies: http://opensource.com
14 years
Re: Release announcement
by Paul W. Frields
On Mon, Mar 08, 2010 at 05:10:29PM -0700, Robyn Bergeron wrote:
> I have no objections with what is here. I did some uber-nit-picky
> adding of periods to the names of some of the bullet-point items in
> the Admin section just to keep unity with the other bullet-point
> items.
>
> That said: It does seem... somewhat ... reminiscent of the F12 alpha
> announcement :) Are there any objections if I re-personalize the intro
> a bit this evening?
No objections at all here. Go for it!
--
Paul W. Frields http://paul.frields.org/
gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
http://redhat.com/ - - - - http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
Where open source multiplies: http://opensource.com
14 years